Automation is a process of combining electrical and mechanical movements so as to reduce the overall human effort and increase the productivity. The present system of counting and packing of Incense sticks is done through manually, which makes the industry difficult to organize its materials and etc. So Automation using PLC makes it better for the process to be done easily with less human effort with an improved efficiency and production.

As there are many machines that can make incense sticks, the process starts from arranging them and sending it to counting process. There are machines that can make Incense sticks at a rate of 350 per min, so packing needs to be made faster to keep the quality of the product. Manually that can be expensive and slow, so PLC based program is installed and then the necessary arrangements are to be made depending on the product status and the location, etc. The process starts from counting the sticks and then there are moved in a particular fashion to pack them in polythene covers. This overall process makes the production increment and also the cost factors will reduce.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Automation is the use of machines, control systems and information technologies to optimize productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. Automation technology has become increasingly important in engineering. Automation technology combines virtually the knowledge of all technical sciences. The choice for applying automation is to increase productivity and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of scale and/or realize quality levels. In the scope of industrialisation, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements while increasing load capacity, speed, and repeatability. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in daily experience.

At present we have many machines on making incense sticks. Machines are even faster in making the sticks, but the count & packing is done manually, which may have certain effects on the industry. So to overcome the effects the system should be automated. As Incense sticks are counted manually, the sticks may get damage in some cases. The automation process is required here so that the process is maintained in a proper order. As sticks are made faster the packing must be done in the same speed, else the storage problems arise in the industry. And also the fuel management becomes some what difficult. Depending on the demand of the product we have to choose the procedure to obtain required output. It can be done by increasing labor, but training makes a problem again to the new comers. So making the process automated all the difficulties may be overcome. So, we go for process automation for the counting & packing.

The Automated process of the counting & packing is done using Electro-pneumatic system. The process uses less arrangement of the system equipment. So industries can adopt this system with comfort to obtain higher production. The overall system process is controlled using a PLC, by assigning a simple logic in to it. This makes the process totally automated and maintains the productivity in the good range of industry.